Natural orifice surgery is surgery that is conducted by advancing surgical instruments through the mouth or anus or urethra or vagina. The instruments may be used in some cases to access spaces by fenestrating the walls of interior body structures that are between the natural orifice and the intended surgical site.
Veress needles have been used in the type of non-natural orifice surgery known as laparoscopic surgery to puncture a patient's abdomen and insufflate the peritoneal space for, e.g., removing the gall bladder. Because of this relatively simple application, Veress needles are only a few inches long. Owing to the shortness of the needles, insufflation devices can pump gas through the needles into the abdomen at an acceptably rapid rate.